Fire OS 5 with Alexa coming to 1st-gen Fire TV and Fire TV Stick in October

The new Fire TV will begin arriving at customer’s doorsteps with Fire OS 5 on October 5th. I’m told by trusted sources at Amazon that around the same time, existing 1st generation Fire TVs and Fire TV Sticks will receive a software update that will upgrade them to Fire OS 5. Along with this update will be all the Alexa features that will be present on the new Fire TV. Fire TV Stick owners without a voice remote will be able to use the Fire TV Remote App to issue Alexa voice commands.

You have to praise Amazon for bringing Alexa to existing devices. They could have easily made Alexa exclusive to the new Fire TV in order to increase sales. When Apple introduced Siri on the iPhone 4S, they did not add the feature to older devices. It looks like Apple will be repeating history and not updating existing Apple TVs with Siri. Bravo Amazon and Lab126 for continuing to improve the Fire TV month after month, even when the attention is on new hardware.

It will most likely be sideloadable but as far as it working with the new hardware…that’s still the question as far as I know.
But this article cinched it for me. We have 5.0, we have Alexa, Kodi works great–why do we need to upgrade to generation 2?

I agree that is fantastic that our gen 1 get Alexa, etc. But for me it’s not really an “upgrade” issue but a more FireTVs around the house decision. We’ve slowly replaced old Rokus with FireTVs and will continue to do so. My great hope is that having the Alexa support will enable its use for home automation (ala Smartthings, Wink, etc.) which is my next major house project. So having multiple sites around the house with Alexa will be nice.

Alexa is being brought to the first generation Fire TV, which is great. Comparing this to Siri and the Apple TV is not really appropriate. The current Apple TV is over three years old. Freezing development of the current Fire TV, which is still running current hardware, would not have been reasonable. Amazon did the right thing.

Alexa is a “good to have” feature but what we REALLY need is a UltraHD capabilities. Is it possible to do it via software upgrade ? I just bough FireTV 1 month ago and found out that it can’t play Netflix UHD. Could you pass the message to FireTV team? Many thanks!

Can you control Alexa on Fire TV with your Amazon Echo? No interest in downloading another “App”, opening said App, and pressing a button to issue a voice command when I already own an Echo which “just works”. What’s the point of bringing Alexa to multiple devices if she’s not a single entity, but confined to each device separately?

I’m not sure I understand. Alexa is just voice control software. Each device having it means the device and the things the software does (looking up stuff on the web, etc.) can be controlled by said device. Each device would become a way to access the software. For example, if you had your Echo in your kitchen let’s say and a FireTV in your bedroom you could then access Alexa in either room. Or am I missing your point?

Sort of. My point is that I should be able to just say “Alexa, Do This On My Fire TV” and my Echo would hear me and do it. Seeing “Alexa” is just an internet connected voice control, she should be able to do whatever to any device she’s connected with. I shouldn’t have to use a separate Remote Control/App, press a button to issue a voice command when I already have a hands free solution with the Echo.

Well… there is no significance to where the interface is “hearing” you and if you’re talking to an Echo which is resident on your Fire TV in the bedroom, for example, it should just do whatever you ask it to, on that Fire TV device. BUT, the important thing here is that Amazon should come up with a microphone that you can pair to the ATV in your bedroom, for example, and that listens to you just like Alexa does – no remote, no buttons, no app and when you say the key word “Alexa” then it will invoke and do what you asked it to do. You really don’t have to be needing to talk to Alexa in your living room to do something in your bedroom (like play music), as long as there’s a microphone somewhere in your bedroom that is paired to the ATV in your bedroom and is constantly listening to you and looking for the key word.

The time where you would want your Echo to play something on your FireTV is when they are both in the same room. Your FireTV is connected to your home theater sound system and your Echo is just its own speaker. When you want to ask Alexa to play something on your FireTV, in the same room, that’s where it makes sense a lot! So… they need to do both – (1) come out with a microphone which can be paired to the ATV for Alexa on it and (2) also make the Echo/Alexa play whatever you wish on whichever device around the house.

I agree that I would prefer that Alexa “just work” via a voice command without the need to press a button on the remote, as the Echo does. But I must admit that having Alexa always listening does make me wonder about security, and whether somebody somewhere besides “Alexa” is listening in to my household’s goings on.

I had to buy another Fire Stick since my blue tooth headphones will only work on the new amazon fire stick with voice remote. Old OS only lets me pair blue tooth controllers. New one allows me to seamlessly connect my Sony headphones!